Alan Villiers

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Alan Villiers on board the Grace Harwar in 1929

Alan John Villiers (born September 23, 1903 in Melbourne , † March 3, 1982 ) was an Australian navigator , adventurer , photographer and writer .

Life

Villiers was born in Melbourne in 1903 as the son of the poet and trade unionist Leon Joseph Villiers. He grew up in the immediate vicinity of the port facilities and began training at the age of 15 on the Bark Rothesay Bay , one of the last sail-powered merchant ships in the Tasman Sea .

After completing his training, he was hired on other sailing ships. He was injured in an accident on board the Lawhill and decided to work as a journalist . In 1922 he was employed by the Hobart Mercury .

A little later he had the opportunity to accompany Norwegian whalers on one of the first expeditions to the Ross Sea equipped with modern technology . His reports were sent over the radio and appeared in several countries. After completing the trip, he returned to Hobart .

The Joseph Conrad

In 1927 he took part in the Duchess Cecilie's trip to Falmouth . The ship had been challenged by the Swedish barque Beatrice , but won the race after 96 days of voyage. The book Falmouth for Orders , created on the trip, was a great success for Villiers.

After a few months in Europe, Villiers and Ronald Walker decided to make a documentary about the last great sailing ships. They boarded the Grace Harwar , with which they circumnavigated Cape Horn ; Walker was killed in an accident while driving.

In 1931 Villiers acquired shares in the four-masted barque Parma , which he sold back after two years. He then bought Georg Stage in 1934 , which he renamed Joseph Conrad (after the writer Joseph Conrad ) and with which he set off on a circumnavigation of the world .

After selling this ship again in 1936, he began to study the Arabian seafaring culture in 1938. During an eighteen month stay on board a Dau , he traveled to Zanzibar, among other places .

During the Second World War he fought as a soldier in the Royal Navy (Royal Navy Reserve) and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross . He was u. a. involved in the Battle of Dunkirk , Operation Husky (landing in Sicily) and Operation Overlord (landing in Normandy).

In 1940 he settled in Oxford with his wife Nancie . Even after the war he was still active as a seaman and journalist, for example in 1957 he led the Mayflower II , a replica of the Mayflower , on her maiden voyage as captain. In the same year Villiers discovered the Star of India , whose preservation he successfully initiated. He also served as curator of the National Maritime Museum and as chairman of the Cutty Sark Preservation Society and the Society for Nautical Research .

Works

In German (extract)

  • A thousand colored sails. The Doryfischer from the schooner Argus , Eberhard Brockhaus, Wiesbaden 1952
  • Around Cape Horn: Grace Harwar's Last Voyage , Eberhard Brockhaus, Wiesbaden 1953
  • Before the wind across the seven seas. Three decades on the last sailing ships , Eberhard Brockhaus, Wiesbaden 1954
  • The sons of Sindbad (transferred from Siegfried H. Engel), Hans Dulk Verlag, Hamburg 1956
  • Wild Atlantic . The history of the North Atlantic and the men who conquered it. Hans Dulk Verlag, Hamburg 1958
  • A kingdom for a ship. Part One: The Mayflower Saga. Second part: adventurous hike. , Hans Dulk Verlag, Hamburg 1960
  • Lost at sea (transferred by Ulrich Zimmermann) Verlag Delius, Klasing & Co., Bielefeld and Berlin 1965
  • On blue depths , Rütten & Loening, Munich 1967
  • Across the seven seas. Windjammer on a long journey , Delius, Klasing & Co., Bielefeld and Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-892-25421-4
  • James Cook - Navigator and Explorer , Die Brigantine Verlag, Hamburg 1971

In English

  • AJ Villiers; Whaling In The Frozen South (1925 The Bobbs-Merrill co.)
  • Alan Villiers; The Wind Ship (1928 Hurst & Blackett, Ltd.)
  • AJ Villiers; Falmouth for Orders (1929 Henry Holt and Company)
  • AJ Villiers; illustrated with photographs taken by Ronald Gregory Walker and the author; By way of Cape Horn (1930 Charles Scribner's Sons)
  • AJ Villiers; Sea Dogs of Today (1931 Henry Holt & Company)
  • Alan Villiers; Vanished Fleets (1931 Charles Scribner's Sons, ISBN 0-684-14112-4 )
  • Alan Villiers; The Sea in Ships (1932 G. Routledge and Sons Ltd.)
  • AJ Villiers; Voyage of the "Parma"; The Great Grain Race of 1932 (1933 G. Bles)
  • Alan Villiers; Grain Race (1933 Charles Scribner's Sons)
  • Alan J. Villiers; With over 200 photographs by the author; Last of the Wind Ships (1934 William Morrow and Co)
  • Alan Villiers; The Sea in Ships (1934 William Morrow and Co)
  • Alan Villiers; Cruise of the Conrad (1937 Charles Scribner's Sons)
  • Alan Villiers; Stormalong (1937 Charles Scribner's Sons)
  • Alan J. Villiers; The Making of a Sailor (1938 William Morrow and Co)
  • Alan Villiers; Illustrated by Victor J. Dowling Joey Goes To Sea (1939 Charles Scribner's Sons)
  • Alan Villiers; Sons of Sinbad (1940 Charles Scribner's Sons)
  • Alan Villiers; Illustrated with woodcuts by Charles Pont; Whalers of the Midnight Sun (1947 Charles Scribner's Sons)
  • Alan Villiers; The Set of the Sails; The Story of a Cape Horn Seaman (1949 Hodder and Stoughton)
  • John Villiers; The Coral Sea (1949 Museum Press)
  • Alan Villiers; The Quest of the Schooner Argus (1951 Charles Scribner's Sons)
  • Alan Villiers; The Indian Ocean (1952 Museum Press)
  • Alan Villiers; Monsoon Seas (1952 McGraw Hill)
  • Alan Villiers; Illustrated by Jean Main and David Cobb And Not To Yield; A Story of the Outward Bound School of Adventure (1953 Scribner)
  • Alan Villiers with an introduction by the Duke of Edinburgh; The Cutty Sark; Last of A Glorious Era (1953 Hodder and Stoughton)
  • Alan Villiers; The Way of a Ship (1953 Charles Scribner's Sons)
  • Alan Villiers; Sailing Eagle (1955 Charles Scribner's Sons)
  • Alan Villiers; Pioneers of the Seven Seas (1956 Routledge & Paul)
  • Alan Villiers; Wild Ocean (1957 McGraw Hill)
  • Alan Villiers; The New Mayflower (1958 Scribner)
  • Alan Villiers; Give me a ship to sail (1959 Charles Scribner's Sons)
  • Alan Villiers; Of Ships and Men, a Personal Anthology (1962 Newnes)
  • Alan Villiers; The ocean; Man's Conquest of the Sea (1963 Dutton)
  • Alan Villiers; Oceans of the World; Man's Conquest of the Sea (1963 Museum Press Ltd.)
  • Alan Villiers; The Battle of Trafalgar (1965 Macmillan)
  • Alan Villiers; Captain Cook (1967 Scribner)
  • Alan Villiers; The Deep Sea Fishermen (1970 Hodder and Stoughton)
  • Alan Villiers; The War with Cape Horn (1971 Pan Books Ltd., ISBN 0-330-23697-0 )
  • Alan Villiers; With Drawings by Mark Myers; My Favorite Sea Stories (1972 Lutterworth Press)
  • Alan Villiers and Henri Picard; The Bounty Ships of France (1972 Charles Scribner's Sons, ISBN 0-684-13184-6 )
  • Alan Villiers; Foreword by Melville Bell Grosvenor; Men Ships and the Sea (1973 National Geographic Society, ISBN 0-87044-018-7 )
  • Alan Villiers; Posted Missing (1974 Charles Scribner's Sons, ISBN 0-684-13871-9 )
  • Alan Villiers; Voyaging With The Wind: An Introduction to Sailing Large Square Rigged Ships (1975 HM Stationery Office)

Web links

Commons : Photographs by Alan Villiers  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Villiers, Alan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Villiers, Alan John (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian navigator, adventurer, photographer and writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Melbourne
DATE OF DEATH March 3, 1982